Adding time patterns to appointments

You can add a time pattern to an appointment to represent who is providing care to the patient during the appointment. You can use these assignments to help you maximize your productivity and the use of all operatories. Also, with provider time specified for appointments, when you schedule overlapping appointments with a given provider, the double-booking warning message does not appear if the assigned provider times for those appointments do not overlap.

To add a time pattern to an appointment

1. When you are scheduling an appointment (for a new or existing patient) or editing an appointment, click (or tap) Add Time Pattern.

   

   The Add Time Pattern dialog box appears.

   

   Note: By default, None is selected for each time increment of the appointment, so the time pattern bar on the left edge of the appointment tile is blank.

   

2. For each Time increment, either leave None selected, or select Assistant, Provider, or Chair.

   Note: As you specify the time pattern, the Symbols column is updated automatically:

   • Assistant time (/)

   • Provider time (X)

   • Chair time (-)

   • None (blank)

   

3. To change the appointment length, select a different option from the Length list.

   Note: If adjusting the length of the appointment (either in this dialog box or on the Appointment Information panel) adds time increments, each of those time increments will have None selected by default.

   

4. Click Add.

5. Set up or change other appointment details as needed, and then click Save.

   The applicable symbols for each time increment appear on the time pattern bar on the left edge of the appointment tile.